


Moments

by TheLittleMuse



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Gen, Mild A/U
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 04:36:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12549024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLittleMuse/pseuds/TheLittleMuse
Summary: Murphy is angry, lost and confused. Her Dad's just blown his brain out and her Mom's taking them on a hiking holiday like nothing's wrong. She meets a boy who might just be as angry, lost and confused as she is. For a moment, they understand each other.





	1. Chapter 1

Karrin Murphy stomped along by herself. What was the point of a hiking holiday anyway? Sure, nature was beautiful, but Karrin was a city girl. She preferred to appreciate the beauty of nature from the safety of a TV screen. And hiking was good exercise, but it was boring. Give her an hour in her dojo any day.

But the worst thing was the way her Mom was pretending everything was fine and her Dad hadn’t blown his brains out. It really all came back to that.

So she had to get away. Away from her sister’s whining, her brothers’ fighting and her mother’s relentless cheer.

“Oi, get your own spot!”

She turned to find a tall, skinny boy, probably about her own age, sitting underneath a lightening struck tree and glaring at her. “What?” she said.

“I _said_ this is my spot for … thinking. So piss off.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared back at the boy who had probably never experienced anything worse than a blister in his life. “No.”

“This is _my_ tree,” repeated the boy furiously.

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

Karrin snorted, “Right. And you own all the trees in the forest.”

The boy raised an eyebrow, “Fine. If you’re going to stay here, you’ve got to tell me what’s your story.”

“What?”

“Why are you all MoodyMcMoodyPants in the forest?”

Karrin crossed her arms, “My Dad blew his brains out and we’re on this stupid holiday like nothing’s wrong. Happy?”

The boy’s eyebrow’s rose and he looked suitably impressed. Karrin felt a burn of sick satisfaction. “Oh. That sucks. You can share my tree.”

Karrin sat down by the boy, wondering why she was putting up with this brat. Perhaps because she really had nothing better to do. “So,” she said, “I’ve told you my shit, now you tell me yours.”

He shrugged, staring at his feet, “My adoptive Dad tried to kill me. So I killed him.”

Karrin blinked, “What?”

“Yeah,” said the boy bitterly. “The … judges wanted to kill me, but the … lawyers argued self-defence. Which it was. I mean, he was crazy. Wanted to enthrall me. I would’ve … I didn’t want to … but.”

Karrin stared a little more. Somehow the only thing she could think of to say was, “I don’t think juveniles can get the death penalty.”

The boy laughed, “You would think so, wouldn’t you? They sent me here instead as a sort of probation. Gotta stay with some old man and learn how to be human. Unless they change their minds and kill me,” he looked lost for a second, as if he wasn’t sure what, exactly, he was standing on. He shook his head, “So why’d your Dad kill himself then?”

A new stab of pain shot threw her. She’d managed to forget that for a moment, “I don’t know,” said Karrin. “He seemed happy, came home every night and told me stories of what he’d been doing during the day.”

“Anyone can seem happy. My-” the boy scowled, “that bastard _seemed_ like he cared. Adopted me when I was ten and it seemed like the greatest thing that had ever happened. Except he just wanted fodder. Anyone can seem anything they like.”

Karrin nodded, “My Mom’s busy pretending everything’s okay, like if she admits for a second that anything’s wrong the family will fall apart. But it’s already gone wrong because _Dad blew his brains out_.”

“It’s okay to be angry. That’s what they don’t understand. The old man keeps telling me I’ve got to learn to control my anger, but they deserve your anger. And if nobody gets angry nothing’s ever going to change.”

“It’s no good getting angry at my Dad. It’s not going to change anything.”

“Why not? It’s better than just crying. He had a choice and he left you-”

“Stop it.”

“What were you doing when you were marching off into the woods? You were angry then. Not everyone gets a choice, but your Dad took it, like the selfish bas-”

Karrin broke his nose.

The boy pushed himself off the ground. “Wow,” he said, touching his nose gingerly. “You can punch.”

“Is that surprising? ‘Cos I’m a girl?”

“You’re so tiny. A tiny little badass,” the boy said. He sounded strangely delighted.

Karrin paused. “You’re insane. And an asshole.”

“Certifiably. To both. But it made you feel better, didn’t it?”

Karrin shrugged, “Perhaps. But you can’t go around being angry at everything all the time, I don’t think. I can be angry about Dad. I can be angry about everyone thinking I can’t be a cop because I’m little and a girl. Or that I only want to be a cop because Dad was one. I can be angry about Mom spoiling Lisa. I can be angry about everything, but if you’re angry all the time it’s exhausting,” she said. “I’m so tired of being angry at them all.”

“Permanent anger does take practice,” the boy agreed. “But I guess the trick is to choose.”

“Choose?”

“Well, like you said, getting angry at your Dad won’t change anything – and sorry for what I said by the way.”

“Yeah, you’re still an asshole for that.”

“Yeah. But, point is, you can’t bring your Dad back by getting angry, believe me, I’ve tried. You can’t stop your Mom from spoiling your … sister?” she nodded. “Okay, so the only thing that’s left to you is the cop thing. So what you’ve got to do is turn an interest into an all consuming obsession.”

“It kind of was that already.”

“Good!” he said brightly, “So you’re going to become the greatest damn cop this shitty world has ever seen. Every time someone puts you down you’re going to use that energy to prove them wrong. You’re gonna use the anger to motivate you.”

“That sounds good. As motivational speeches go it’s unconventional, but it works. What do you want to do?”

The boy looked down, “I don’t know. I’m all undirected anger. I wanna make some sort of difference, but I don’t know how.”

“Ever considered the police?”

The boy snorted, “Even if I wanted to, do you think they’d have me, with my record? Nah, me and the police don’t get on.”

“What about a P.I. or something?”

“What, like Philip Marlowe?”

“Sure,” said Karrin, not at all sure.

The boy leant against the tree, clearly envisioning something else in his head, “That could work,” he said, nodding, “I would have to – and they wouldn’t like it but it isn’t technically-” he gave her a wide grin, “Oh, this is going to be so much fun. You’re a genius,” he grabbed her in a hug and stood up, full of energy, then stopped, his head cocked to one side, “Your family’s looking for you,” he said softly.

“I better go then.”

“Yeah.”

It was only when Karrin was being berated by her Mom for running off that she realised she had never even asked for the boy’s name.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a couple of people asked for the "Years Later" segment I mentioned. It's supposed to be set fairly early on in the books, since Murphy seems to know Harry's backstory from fairly early on.  
> I hope this isn't too much of a disappointment.

**Years Later**

 

Murphy stared at the bottle of beer in front of her. It couldn’t be true. It was all too weird, but Harry’s personal history was just so … specific. Sure, she could imagine there were two boys in the world of roughly the same age who had killed their adoptive fathers in self-defence, but who had then gone on to serve their ‘probation’ in the Ozarks? That was a coincidence too far.

Dammit, why had she never gotten the boy’s name? That would’ve made the whole thing so much easier.

“Deep thoughts, Murph? I mean, Mac’s is good, but I don’t think the beer is that interesting.”

“Okay Dresden, this is a very weird question, but did you ever meet a girl on holiday whose Dad had just blown his brain out?”

Harry stared at her, “Hells bells,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “So. You did become a cop then, huh?”

“And you became a P.I. Because I suggested it. And now we’re friends. That’s weird.”

“Yeah. But not the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Or me. You’re a strange friend, Dresden.”

Harry waggled his eyebrows, “Maybe it’s fate. Maybe we were always supposed to end up working together, saving the city, Dresden and Murphy.”

“Murphy and Dresden.”

“C’mon, I’m the wizard, I get top billing.”

“You’re the funny magic sidekick. I’m the hardboiled detective.”

“You’re Lestrade, I’m Sherlock.”

“You’re hardly a genius, and how many times have I pulled your ass out the fire, _Sherlock_?”

“Well who’s educating who about the supernatural world?”

Murphy grimaced. No matter how many fights she won, it was never fun to be reminded how much she was completely outclassed she tended to be, “Alright, if I’m Lestrade and you’re Sherlock, then who’s Watson?”

“Hmmmm. Oh. Easy, it’s Mouse.”

“I’ll accepted it,” said Murphy, “he’s suitably loyal and brave, though he lacks the opposable thumbs to be an army medic.”

“He’d manage. Somehow.”

Murphy snorted, “You’ve had too much to drink, Dresden, go home.”

Harry laughed and stood up, “You know, I should’ve known. You had a mean right hook even as a kid.”

“You deserved it.”

“I did. I was an angry little asshole then.”

“And now you’re just a sarcastic asshole. Progress.”

Harry looked uncomfortable, like he was about to fling himself off a waterfall, “You ever figure stuff out with your Mom?” he asked.

“She was trying to cope by looking after everyone else. I still hate it, but I understand a little better now. But now we’ve got other issues. So.”

“So.”

“I think we should agree to never speak of this again.”

“That’s fair.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to leave you with this image that made me giggle.  
> Harry coming home from the woods. Ebenezer: *Sigh* "Fighting again?"  
> Harry: "Nah. Just met a girl, she broke my nose and now I want to be a P.I."  
> Ebenezer *Blinks* "Explain"  
> Harry *Explains. It makes no more sense*  
> Ebenezer: "Well, that's good, I guess"

**Author's Note:**

> I know the timing doesn't quite add up with when Murphy's Dad shot himself and Harry killing DuMorne, but it's my story. So there. I just liked the idea of these two characters being at their emotional fraying points and making things better for a moment. 
> 
> In case anyone's interested: I did originally write a "Years later" segment where, due to the very specific nature of Harry's history, Murphy realises who exactly she was talking to those years before. It was fun, but it didn't really work. If anyone wants to read it I'll post it.


End file.
